What Nathan omits is the fact that there are 2 union movements in South Korea. The Federation is a sell-out union, while the newer Confederation of Korean Trade Unions has been spearheading the resistance to downsizing and IMF austerity. Frankly, I wonder where he gets the nerve to use this sort of one-sided presentation of the facts, when I have Lexis-Nexis on my desktop. He brazenly stated that the division between the Democrats and the Republicans favored the former on environmental questions. So all I had to do was search on the keyword "David Brower" since I recalled that the founding father of the modern environmental movement characterized Clinton-Gore as worse on green issues than Bush-Quayle. Here's some relevant information on the progressive union movement in South Korea:
THE KOREA HERALD, May 24, 1998:
The proposed second panel of labor, management and government is expected to begin early next month, possibly without the participation of the more militant labor group.
Kim Won-ki, the ruling party leader designated to head the panel, said Saturday that he has asked labor, management and political organizations to select prospective members for the panel as soon as possible.
He said he is persuading the moderate Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) to commit themselves to early participation.
On Thursday, Kim and Labor Minister Lee Ki-ho agreed to launch the panel in early June to build up a national consensus on industrial peace and help the nation tide over its economic difficulties.
In February this year, participants in the first meeting pulled off an agreement on legalizing layoffs, one of the conditions of last years $ 58 billion International Monetary Fund bailout package.
The major obstacle to the second panel's early launch has been the boycott of the KCTU, which is threatening nationwide strikes. While claiming that it is bearing the brunt of economic contraction, the KCTU is also accusing the government and corporations of failing to honor their promise to share the burden.
Kim, of the National Congress for New Politics, said he will make effort to persuade the 650,000-strong KCTU to participate in the panel before its official launch. He added that some of its leaders are in favor of participation.
We have been working hard to persuade the KCTU to participate,'' he said. Some of the leaders now say that they should take the nation's economic difficulties into account and discuss labor problems at panel sessions.''
Despite his guarded optimism, the government is bracing for the KCTU's threat to call nationwide strikes Wednesday, hold protest rallies in Seoul and 16 other cities Thursday and launch another nationwide strike June 10.
Vice minister-level officials, including top prosecution and police officers, are scheduled to meet today to deal with the KCTU's planned action.
Labor unrest is threatening to intensify at a time when about 3,000 workers are thrown out of their jobs daily.
According to government figures released last week for April, the nation's jobless rate reached a 12-year high of 1.4 million unemployed.
Louis Proyect
(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)